Augmented Reality for Developers

Build exciting AR applications on mobile and wearable devices with Unity 3D Vuforia ARToolKit Microsoft Mixed Reality HoloLens Apple ARKit and Google ARCore About This Book • Create unique AR applications from scratch from beginning to end with step-by-step tutorials • Use Unity 3D to efficiently create AR apps for Android iOS and Windows platforms • Use Vuforia ARTookKit Windows Mixed Reality and Apple ARKit to build AR projects for a variety of markets • Learn best practices in AR user experience software design patterns and 3D graphics Who This Book Is For The ideal target audience for this book is developers who have some experience in mobile development either Android or iOS. Some broad web development experience would also be beneficial. What You Will Learn • Build Augmented Reality applications through a step-by-step tutorial-style project approach • Use the Unity 3D game engine with the Vuforia AR platform open source ARToolKit Microsofts Mixed Reality Toolkit Apple ARKit and Google ARCore via the C# programming language • Implement practical demo applications of AR including education games business marketing and industrial training • Employ a variety of AR recognition modes including target images markers objects and spatial mapping • Target a variety of AR devices including phones tablets and wearable smartglasses for Android iOS and Windows HoloLens • Develop expertise with Unity 3D graphics UIs physics and event systems • Explore and utilize AR best practices and software design patterns In Detail Augmented Reality brings with it a set of challenges that are unseen and unheard of for traditional web and mobile developers. This book is your gateway to Augmented Reality development―not a theoretical showpiece for your bookshelf but a handbook you will keep by your desk while coding and architecting your first AR app and for years to come. The book opens with an introduction to Augmented Reality including markets technologies and development tools. You will begin by setting up your development machine for Android iOS and Windows development learning the basics of using Unity and the Vuforia AR platform as well as the open source ARToolKit and Microsoft Mixed Reality Toolkit. You will also receive an introduction to Apples ARKit and Googles ARCore! You will then focus on building AR applications exploring a variety of recognition targeting methods. You will go through multiple complete projects illustrating key market sectors including business marketing education industrial training and gaming. By the end of the book you will have gained the necessary knowledge to make quality content appropriate for a range of AR devices platforms and intended uses. Style and approach This book adopts a practical step-by-step tutorial-style approach. The design principles and methodology will be explained by creating different modules of the AR app.